Google Meet, Google’s online video conferencing platform, is gradually being made available for free to all users starting in early May.
As many of us are still working from home, video conferencing has been crucial for businesses getting work done, as well as friends and family staying in touch.
Here’s what Google wrote.
Starting in early May, anyone with an email address can sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features available to our business and education users, such as simple scheduling and screen sharing, real-time captions, and layouts that adapt to your preference, including an expanded tiled view.
It’s important that everyone who uses Meet has a secure and reliable experience from the start, so beginning next week, we’ll be gradually expanding its availability to more and more people over the following weeks.
With availability rolling out gradually, you might find that you don’t have access immediately to free Google Meet, but Google is allowing users to be notified when it’s their turn.
Like on other platforms, meetings are limited to 60 minutes for the free product, but Google states that it won’t enforce time limits until after September 30. Considering how much some platforms charge for time, this is pretty darn generous of Google.
Good on ya, Google.